Randy,
I'll be glad to fill you in. Jack is right. There was most certainly no giveaway when I sold my 58YF. There is no secrecy either. Look back at my original post and you will see that the price was clearly stated at the end of the description. The "category" that my boat was in would be one with other 1970's Hatt's that have a recent complete professionally sprayed paint job, low hour rebuilds on the mains, new low hour generators and new state of the art electronics. Not many other 1970's Hatt's fall into that category or condition level, which is one of the reasons why it sold so quickly. I deliberately did not set a pie-in-the-sky number, but an extremely realistic one for the current market conditions and considering the boat's overall condition and equipment. The boat sold before I even got a chance to post interior pics. When something sells that fast, usually it sells at or pretty near the ask price which is what happened here. That's the way things like that usually work.
Out of respect for the new owner I will not divulge the exact sales price, but it was indeed well below what it would have brought before the economy tanked. With that being said, your assumption is incorrect because I would never have sold my boat at a loss because I didn't have to sell it at all. I wanted to because I fell in love with another boat and I decided that I wanted to move up without being a two boat owner. Sometimes it's wise to sell a boat before buying another, but to each his own and every deal is different. Remember, I bought my 58 while I still had my 41 and it took 10 months to sell the 41. Never again.
I have been quite fortunate in that I have not lost money on my boats over the years except for one, the 41 and that is because I didn't mind losing a few thousand for a good friend who still loves the boat. If you really want to sell a boat sometimes you have to keep dropping the price until it sells. I got back all the money I invested on the 58YF, I just didn't make much for my time but by the same token I cannot put a price on the fun that I had purchasing a mechanically sound one owner 58YF, restoring it and enjoying it for over four years. Honestly, I was beginning to get bored because I was running out of things to do on the boat so my mind began to wander to bigger boats. I didn't mind selling it for less than I thought it should bring simply because I am moving up and I know that I will make up several times the difference on the next boat.
The reason that I chimed in (as I stated in my reply) was because I had just been speaking with a friend who is looking for a Hatteras Sportfish and I suggested Al's boat. Also, I thought the term "giveaway" was not quite accurate because we are still talking about nearly $100k here. The irony of you starting a new thread about the price drop here on the sandbar and also in the proper "For Sale" section is that over there you asked what people were waiting for and you answered your own question. People are waiting for a price drop! There are two reasons that boats do not sell, either price or condition or sometimes both. Al's boat seems to be in very good condition, so after a year at $125k and not selling, price may have been the problem. Now at $99k I would think that it is very fairly priced but with all due respect to Al, hardly a "giveaway" as you claimed.
I've been in Lauderdale for several days now staying on the beach right up the road from Al's yellow house and I thought that this friend would ask me to go and take a look at Al's boat for him but that did not happen. I'll be back the first week of January and if he is interested maybe I will get the chance to check out Al's boat then.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
